KINGSBRIDGE 169 



by the puff of smoke in the distance, and the reverbe- 

 ration of the explosion. 



Not far from the castle there is a beach called North 

 Sands. A wood is believed to have been here over- 

 whelmed by the waves in times remote, and the stumps 

 of a number of large trees, discernible some years ago, 

 strengthen the supposition ; some of these may yet be 

 seen at the low ebb of spring tides. These relics may 

 also be found in Millbay, on the opposite shore. Three 

 kinds of Pholas, the dactylus, candidus, and parvus, are 

 found burrowing in these old stumps. The animals be- 

 longing to all these shells are luminous in the dark, even 

 while living. That fan-like shell, the Pinna ingens, is 

 found in Salcombe Bay, where it has been known to 

 fishermen as the French mussel. These creatures lie on a 

 gravelly bottom, covered with mud and long sea weeds, 

 and are only to be got at when the sea recedes further 

 than usual. They stand upright, with the large end about 

 an inch above the surface ; the lower end fixed by a very 

 large, strong byssus, or beard, so firmly attached to the 

 gravel, that much force is required to draw them up, and 

 most commonly the beard is left behind. This is com- 

 posed of numerous fine, silk-like fibres, of a dark purplish 

 brown, two or three inches in length. Some of these shells 

 were taken occasionally for many years, the animals having 

 been accounted very good food, but they require five or 

 six hours stewing, to render them eatable; if this is pro- 

 perly attended to, they are said to be nearly as palatable 

 as scallops, but never so tender. The Pinna has been long 

 celebrated for giving protection to a small species of crab, 

 which was supposed to be of great use to the animal, by 

 giving it notice either of approaching danger, or of its 



